For small academic publishers, submission systems are crucial in helping streamline the submission process. A submission system enables a publisher to keep track of submissions, assign reviewers, and monitor progress—all from one platform.
Submission systems are designed to save time and money, and for small and mid-sized academic publishers, this assistance is vital for helping sustain and build business operations.
To understand what submission system may be best for your small academic publisher, it is important to know more about their operational makeup.
What is a submission system?
A submission system is a centralized platform used to manage new and ongoing submissions. The functionality of a submission system allows for paper uploading, tracking of submission status, and author communication.
Submission systems are primarily used by scholarly journals of academic publishers to keep on top of manuscript submission and peer review. Instead of various departments within these publishers working independently on the publication of a manuscript, all ongoing interdepartmental tasks are visible for everyone within one place, ensuring that nothing is missed and the process runs as smoothly as possible.
How submission systems benefit small academic publishers
Submission systems are designed with small and mid-sized academic publishers in mind. In most cases, small or mid-sized academic publishers have neither the time nor the resources to handle the submission process independently. By outsourcing tasks such as data management and tracking to an external submission system, which can be accessed and utilized in-house, small and mid-sized academic publishers can operate at maximum efficiency without their workforce being stretched thin.
Submission systems also help strengthen relationships between publishers and authors. By centralizing the process on one platform, authors save valuable time when it comes to uploading documents. They can also rest assured knowing that they will not need to go back and forth sending documents to various departments, nor will they lose track of ongoing tasks or requirements during the submission process. This simplicity mitigates the risk of tensions developing between authors and publishers due to ambiguity around their submission’s status.
Importantly, submission systems are easy to use. Functionality is the key, and integration of a submission system into an academic publisher’s workflow comes at no cost to productivity.
There are a few different types of submission systems that small academic publishers need to be aware of. But which one is for you?
Choosing the right submission system
Which submission system is best for your small academic publisher will depend on your budget and what you require of the platform. Let’s look at some of the main submission system options and the specifics of each.
OJS
At the smaller end of the scale, we have Open Journal Systems (OJS). OJS is a free and open-source platform used for managing and publishing scholarly journals online. It provides an interface where publishers can manage the editorial workflow, from journal management, article submission, and peer review to publication and indexing.
Given that it’s an open-source platform, OJS is free to install on your own server, and the code can be shared with others, giving you control over your data and how it’s used.
However, because OJS is free, it does have certain limitations. OJS requires a web server and technical support (to implement updates, etc.) to host the software. If your academic publisher is unable to handle this infrastructure in-house, it is recommended to use a professional hosting service provider.
Editorial Manager
At the larger end of the scale, there is Editorial Manager. This cloud-based manuscript submission and peer review system is used for scholarly journals, reference works, books, and other publications.
The main benefit of Editorial Manager is that its management system is highly configurable. Their ecosystem of tools includes quality check tools, manuscript evaluation services, and metadata standards. It also includes reviewer finder and recognition tools, payment processing tools, etc.
Additionally, they have a robust reporting suite for performance tracking and the opportunity to combine Editorial Manager with Aries’ ProduXion Manager, which provides workflow solutions (such as copyediting and typesetting) beyond peer review.
The main disadvantage of Editorial Manager is that it costs more, and although its management system is highly configurable, it’s likely that you will only use some of its capability.
JAMS
If you’re looking for a good middle-ground when it comes to submission management systems, JAMS is designed to meet your needs.
JAMS provides a scalable submission system specifically designed for small and mid-sized academic publishers. Importantly, it’s a flexible and modular system; publishers and journals can choose only the services they need. Additionally, JAMS offers a flexible pricing model based on the type and the size of the journals, allowing smaller publishers to pay reasonable fees.
Further to this, JAMS has transparent pricing. From submission to publication, JAMS covers the entire process. This includes not only pre-checks, peer review, and editorial decision, but also the full production and publication workflow, all handled by skilled production editors. There are also discounts available based on publisher profile, such as those that are non-profit or in the global south.
With JAMS, you can rest assured that you receive real guidance and real partnership. JAMS provides ad-hoc consulting to help small and independent journals grow and succeed. In this way, journals can boost their visibility, adopt best practices, and navigate getting indexed in the major databases of scholarly publications.
MDPI, one of the world’s largest open access publishers, uses the JAMS platform internally to manage its own portfolio of journals. This guarantees that smaller journals are working with a battle-tested system that has already facilitated the growth of hundreds of academic journals worldwide.
Consider your publisher’s goals and needs
Before choosing a submission system, it’s important to consider what exactly your publisher’s goals and needs are.
Assess your budget and what services you require. This will give you a basic idea of what kind of submission system you should be looking for. And if you still can’t decide, aim for a platform that’s not too expensive but also not cheap enough to leave your resources handling the upkeep of the system. As a small to mid-sized academic publisher, you need enough external support without stretching your budget too thin to maximise both productivity and profitability.
Want to learn more about sustaining your business? Read our article on revenue models for small academic publishers.